My D applied to 19 schools for 2015 admission. She did ED one school and had she been admitted that would have been the end of it, but she was not. She did have EA offers and an early write but, with the exception of the instate flagship safety, they were outside our budget (set at price of said flagship). Of the 19 schools I think there were two she really didn’t want to attend but would have had to consider for financial reasons.
We talked about culling the list and there were at least 5 schools I thought she should take of, either because they were likely not a great “fit” or by all accounts they would not come in under budget. I’ll admit that our financial picture was not easy to determine – her bio Dad/stepmother had substantial income and my husband and I owned a business so our EFC could not be trusted. All schools but the one instate were profile schools.
In the end, had she taken the schools off the list that I was questioning, she would not be where she is today. This school in particular was one that I was adamant she would never get enough $$ and yet, it came in with the lowest COA by far, no other school came close. So, say what you will, but for us it was well worth the application fees and other expenses. And yes, she wrote several, maybe a dozen? essays and spent every weekend on them but she knew how important this was and she was determined to go to a private LAC if at all possible.